In over 20 years of WNYC's New Sounds with John Schaefer, among the most popular
ongoing features has been the Theme and Variations shows. The premise is simple:
take a single piece of music and explore what a number of musicians have done
with it, through arrangements, deconstructions, and revisions of the original
theme. For the third part of this Online exclusive, we've revived five Theme and
Variations shows from the 1980s and '90s.
Five From the Vaults: Part Six
Program No. 1148
It's
commonly believed that one of the most famous of Irish folk songs, "She Moves
Through the Fair," is a traditional Irish folk tune, but in fact it was written
by a twentieth-century songwriting team: Irish poet Padraic Clum (1881-1972),
a contemporary and close friend of James Joyce, and Belfast-born collector/arranger
Herbert Hughes, who based the modal melody on a traditional Gaelic air. As this
March 17, 1995 edition of New Sounds illustrates, innumerable versions of this
song have surfaced over the years, by Fairport Convention, Margaret Berry, Davey
Graham, Marianne Faithful, and others. View
the Playlist.
Program No. 147
On
this October 28, 1988 edition of New Sounds, John spotlights the traditional
piece of Shona mbira music "Nhemamusasa" or "Cutting Branches for a Temporary
Shelter," as heard on the classic, 1970s Nonesuch Explorer series disc. Originally
recorded in Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) using two mbira (thumb pianos) and
one rattle, this recording inspired many Western musicians to craft their own
arrangements of this charming, beautiful song. Here we feature variants by Glen
Velez, Kevin Volans, and the Penguin Café Orchestra.
View the Playlist.
Program No. 1519
Walther
von der Vogelweide (c.1170-1230) was a minnesinger (German troubadour) and poet
of noble birth, and possibly the finest lyric poet of medieval Germany. On this
April 20, 1998 edition of New Sounds, we hear one of the very few surviving
melodies of Walther von der Vogelweide. The "Palästinalied" is the song of a
German soldier doing his duty for God and country, by going off to Palestine
to fight in the crusades (its subtitle translates as "Only now has my life found
its true worth"). The work has been interpreted by a number of modern-day musicians,
including Lou Harrison, Estampie, and Radio Tarifa. View
the Playlist.
Program No. 693
The
sixth of the theme and variation shows (July 10, 1991) features one of the most
distinctive and most exciting musical performances in the world, the Kecak,
or monkey chant from the island of Bali. A performance of the Kecak brings together
a couple hundred Balinese men, who sit in concentric circles and chant syllables
over and over in interlocking rhythmic patterns. We hear a number of Western
pieces that were inspired by the rhythms and the melodies of the Kecak: by the
German composer Eberhard Schoener, Japanese composer Akira Nishimura, and the
Italian team of Musci & Venosta. View
the Playlist.
Program No. 1084
Arguably
the most popular song in our Theme and Variations series has gone by several
names. It's often recorded under the title, "Wimoweh," but the original South
African Zulu hunting song was called "Mbube." Yet most people think of the Tokens'
classic 1961 doo-wap hit, "The Lion Sleeps Tonight," as well as its more recent
appearance in the soundtrack to the Lion King. From September 22, 1994, we hear
the original version from South Africa from the 1930s. From there we sample
artists as diverse as Pete Seeger, Brian Eno, the classical chorus Western Wind,
the rock band They Might be Giants, and others. View
the Playlist.
|
| Dapper John: The host in the
early days of New Sounds. |
John Schaefer has hand-picked these five "vault" shows. We ask you to
do the same. Can't remember the exact program? Send an
e-mail with your suggestions for New Sounds programs to be recovered and rescued
from the vault. Just describe it and mention a few of the artists or pieces -
the New Sounds staff will probably be able to figure it out.
It's
commonly believed that one of the most famous of Irish folk songs, "She Moves
Through the Fair," is a traditional Irish folk tune, but in fact it was written
by a twentieth-century songwriting team: Irish poet Padraic Clum (1881-1972),
a contemporary and close friend of James Joyce, and Belfast-born collector/arranger
Herbert Hughes, who based the modal melody on a traditional Gaelic air. As this
March 17, 1995 edition of New Sounds illustrates, innumerable versions of this
song have surfaced over the years, by Fairport Convention, Margaret Berry, Davey
Graham, Marianne Faithful, and others. View
the Playlist.
